Demons of the Hidden Leaf
by sasunarulover2413
Summary: Kakashi is suddenly tossed into being a sensei, now he has to face not only his own problems head on, but those of his students as well. what will they face together and what secrets will they have to unravel on their own? re-write of inner demons.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1: Beginnings

It was dark, and the forest was silent. No small animal dared move a muscle, no cricket dared chirp. The only sound was the light thud of footfalls in the trees. The reek of bloodshed hung heavy in the air, the bodies of countless fallen warriors lay strewn amongst the underbrush. Only one man remained alive, still leaking enough killing intent to keep any scavengers away from the site of the massacre.

Kakashi was covered in blood, most of it not his own, however a steady amount was leaking slowly from a gaping wound on his abdomen that would require stitches. He leapt quickly from tree to tree, each jolt from landing on another branch made him wince in pain, but the mission was far more important than his own suffering. He had to get the scroll that he had killed so many for back to the village.

Kakashi sped up as he reached the border of hi-no-kuni. The thought of returning home came with a mingled sense of joy and suffering. After the mission was over he would most likely be forced to stay in the hospital at least overnight and not go on missions for who knows how long. That meant being left alone with his thoughts, which was something that Kakashi dreaded above all else. He didn't care about the missions while he was doing them, hell, he could even block some of the most recent ones from his mind entirely, but to be left alone with his childhood…that was torture.

Once Kakashi reached Konoah he waved at the gate guards and headed straight to the Hokage's office. The secretary, seeing how bad of shape Kakashi was in, quickly waved Kakashi through the door after checking that the Hokage wasn't currently in a meeting.

"Ah Kakashi-san, I take it your mission was a success?" the Hokage said as he looked up from the rather large stack of paperwork that dominated his desk.

"Yes Hokage-sama, I was able to retrieve the scroll, and eliminate all bandits in the area. There were, however, far more ninja present than the intelligence suggested. That is why the mission took longer than expected." Kakashi spoke formally, reciting the words as if reading them from a script.

The Hokage looked over the man addressing him taking in the numerous wounds that he had suffered during the course of his mission. "You did very well Kakashi, despite how injured you are presently. I will need a written report within the next two days as well as a note stating that you have received medical attention for your wounds, I can't have one of my best ninja dying from gang-green because they refused to visit the hospital. I would also like to discuss something with you after you are in better shape, but for now you are dismissed. Please get some rest."

Kakashi bowed his head respectfully then proceeded to make his way to the hospital, dreading it so much that he even used the door out of the Hokage's office rather than some other means.

After having his injuries cleaned, stitched, wrapped, and bribing the doctor to allow him to spend the night in his own apartment rather than staying in the hospital Kakashi was more than ready for some well-deserved rest. He unlocked his door and was greeted by the darkness and +silence his apartment offered.

He flipped the light switch revealing a rather large living space considering only one man lived there. The living room was sparsely decorated, sporting only a couch, a coffee table, and a television, while the walls were lined with multiple bookshelves rather than photos of family or friends.

The living room opened into a medium sized kitchen that was only separated by a small breakfast bar. A stainless steel refrigerator took up a good deal of space, but left plenty of room for preparing meals.

Kakashi walked in and removed his shoes before stepping up onto the hardwood floor. He dropped his small backpack by the door before heading down the small hallway that led to his bedroom. Not even bothering to turn on the lights, Kakashi undressed, tossing his bloodstained and torn clothes into a trash bin in the corner of the room. he then climbed into bed clad in nothing but the bandaged his wounds were dressed with, hoping the smell of his clean sheets would override the smell of the antiseptic that the doctors had doused him with in order to clean off all of the blood that wasn't his as well as clean his wounds.

Soon after splaying his limbs in every which way and burying his nose into his pillow Kakashi fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

The next morning Kakashi woke up slowly, his senses coming back one by one. He heard birds chirping cheerfully from the flower box by his window, he felt the soft cotton sheets begging him not to leave their warmth, and when he opened his eyes he saw his ceiling fan rotating just fast enough to keep an almost unnoticeable breeze circulating throughout the room.

After contemplating the pros and cons of rolling over and sleeping for a while longer Kakashi decided that he was well past due for a peaceful shower with his favorite shampoo and some minor housekeeping.

He stretched slowly and climbed out of bed. He folded his comforter and put it aside as he began to strip the sheets from his bed. He walked out of his room sheets in hand, to a small closet in his hallway that held his washer and dryer. He tossed the sheets in and added detergent before starting the wash cycle.

Kakashi walked back to his room and grabbed a towel from one drawer and a pair of boxer briefs from the other. He then padded his way to the bathroom, placing his towel on a rack by the shower, and his underwear on the counter. He then preceded to brush his teeth, shower, and redress his wounds.

Clad in only his bandages and underwear Kakashi began to dust his entire apartment, from the kitchen to every single bookshelf, stopping only to switch his laundry from the washer to the dryer.

"well, I guess I should write that report for the Hokage now." Kakashi said aloud to no one in particular. He walked over to one of the bookshelves that housed empty scrolls and ink and pulled the supplies he needed and set them on the breakfast bar. He then prepared himself a small breakfast sandwich and proceeded to write his report. When he was done he rolled up the scroll and tied it shut before heading to the dryer to pull out his sheets. He then remade his bed and got dressed quickly before heading to the Hokage's office.

"Hello Hokage-sama, I brought the written report like you requested." Kakashi said as he handed the scroll over to the old man.

"Well that was sooner than expected. Very good. I'll read over it when I get a second. For now, I wanted to talk to you." The Hokage said simply giving Kakashi a meaningful look, "The latest batch of academy students graduated the day before yesterday, and I have chosen you to be one of the sensies."

Kakashi's visible eye widened, "But Hokage-sama, I'm only twenty years old. These kids are going to be, what, seven years younger than me, at the most. That's not really much of a gap, plus I'm not exactly good with others either, especially children. You've seen my Psyce-Eval, I can work with a team, but forming bonds is still incredibly difficult for me due to my past."

"Kakashi age is not a factor here, experience is. You have lived through one of the great shinobi wars, defended the village from the Kyuubi and been anbu since the age of fifteen. You are beyond qualified for a sensei position. As for forming bonds, there is one student that I have placed on your team that will make that fairly simple."

Kakashi looked doubtful still, but would not disregard the Hokage's judgement. "I will be accompanying you on some home visits so that you can get a feeling for what you'll be dealing with before you meet your team."

"why are you so sure that these kids will pass my test Hokage-sama? Don't only 30% of academy graduates pass the secondary tests done by the sensei?" the Hokage gave Kakashi an amused look before speaking. "Not when that team has and Uchiha and an Uzumaki on it."

TO BE CONTINUED…

 **SASU: hey y'all, sorry about the long wait, but I think it was worth it when it came to this chapter. I'm incredibly happy with the way it turned out, and I hope y'all like it as well :3 please follow and review, and thank you for giving me a chance and checking out my story! Sasu out.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

 **Sasu: hey guys! So I finally got the chance to work on the story again, and I'm really loving how this chapter turned out. So without further ado I hope you enjoy :3**

Kakashi's jaw dropped. "You can't mean? I haven't been allowed near him since before I retired from the Anbu. "

The Hokage's head lowered "Yes, I know. it was by no choice of my own that you were kept away from Naruto. Too many minor laws have slipped past me, and with them the civilian council has gained far too much power. They were the ones that kept Naruto from having an Anbu guard anymore. If I had forced the issue then I would have had to have an Anbu member assigned to every child of all of the civilian council members, and that's simply something I did not have the resources for."

Kakashi understood, but I didn't mean it had hurt any less when he had found out that the boy had been beaten by a mob, or stabbed by a drunken ex-shinobi, or nearly starved in his absence. All of these things and more had happened to the boy after his guard was canceled and while he was away on missions. It was one of the main reasons he had retired from the Black Ops. While he still had quite a few missions out of the village it wasn't nearly as many and they didn't last nearly as long. It allowed him to protect the boy as much as possible. Things still happened of course. It was something he couldn't stop. Not with him being forced not to be around the boy publically.

"However" Kakashi was pulled from his thoughts about what he had done to some of the men that had been captured after harming the kid "Now that Naruto is officially a Ninja the Civilian Council has next to no say in what happens to the boy, and I am the one who creates the genin teams and will not have them say anything more about keeping you away from him. There is no one that I trust more to teach Naruto than you Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded, incredibly happy that he would finally be able to help his mentor's son from somewhere other than the background. "Thank you Hokage-sama, hopefully I will be able to make up for my absence when he was younger"

"Of course Kakashi, not only are you one of the most skilled ninja in the village, but your relationship with his father makes you by far the best choice." The Hokage smiled kindly. "Naruto will not however be your only student. He will, as per usual, be part of a three man squad."

Kakashi nodded, an apprenticeship would still be too much to ask for, but he would take what he could get. "Who are my other two students going to be Hokage-sama?"

"You will be training the last Uchiha due to being the last sharingan user in the village, though even if he wasn't a descendant of that clan I probably would have sent him to your team anyway. He is so much like you were when you were first placed on Minato-kun's team. He's broody, mentally suffering, and in desperate need of friends to ground him. Your propensity for teamwork and personal ideals should help him significantly. I won't lie, if he's not given something to tie him here I'm afraid he might leave the village in order to seek whatever he believes he needs in order to defeat his brother." The Hokage shook his head sadly.

Kakashi saw something in his eyes. _'It looks like he's regretting something deeply, but what? Itachi was always a bit of a lone wolf. I was probably the closest to him in Anbu, but I knew next to nothing apparently.'_ Kakashi pulled himself from his own thoughts. It was obviously something he didn't have clearance to know. He'd put it aside unless it proved to be something he needed to know in order to handle Sasuke.

After sighing deeply the Hokage tossed Kakashi the dark haired avenger's file. Kakashi caught it skillfully and glanced at its contents. ' _Hmmm top of his class, as expected with the training that all Uchiha's went through before the academy, upper level genin reserves, looks like only a few units short of chunin actually. His Psyche eval could be worse, but there are definitely hints towards what the Hokage was saying about needing something to tie him to the village, which is understandable, but if he is going to be a ninja unacceptable. Overall something this is that can be worked with. It would be best if I could get him and Naruto to be at the very least rivals, with a lot of luck perhaps even friends. If not, well I was used to having to cut anbu recruits egos down to size.'_

Kakashi looked up to see the Hokage holding up a significantly larger folder. "Now Kakashi, while I know that you know Naruto I am going to give you his file as well. Please look at it closely and tell me what you think."

Kakashi took the folder and after leafing through the pages he only saw a few good reports on the boy, all authored by the same ninja. While he knew that the civilians were extremely biased due to not understanding the finer points of sealing he didn't realize how many educated ninja were unable to tell the difference between a demon and its jailor. "The only reports I would give any credence to would be the ones authored by this 'Iruka-Sensei'. He appears to be the only one that has anything positive to say about Naruto." Kakashi read through it a bit more thoroughly before continuing.

"He works incredibly hard and is very smart, but has been sabotaged up until this past year when he was placed in Iruka's class. His book smarts are non-existent; he probably was banned from the library as well as not given schoolbooks. It says here that Iruka actually had to re-teach Naruto how to read. His kunai and shuriken scores are impressive if you factor in that every piece of equipment he has is old, rusted, and therefore unbalanced. Finally his chakra is…wow; he has nearly three times the amount I have. It's impressive he learned even two of the academy jutsu without any control exercises aside from leaf balancing."

Kakashi was flabbergasted, the sheer potential Naruto had was incredible, and in a way him being two years older than his classmates would be incredibly helpful. With his body already in the midst of puberty finding a fighting style to fit his body would be significantly easier.

The Hokage sighed "Yes, Naruto has been treated incredibly unfairly, but luckily Iruka-Kun has been a wonderful influence on the boy. They seem more like brothers than sensei and student at this point. Iruka would most likely be more than happy to answer any other questions about Naruto for you."

Kakashi nodded, happy that the lonely boy had at least some semblance of family now. "I do have a question Hokage-Sama. Naruto knows about being the fox's jailor now, correct?"

The older shinobi grimaced "Yes, while I was going to tell him myself soon that damned traitor Mizuki told him. Luckily Iruka was there and told Naruto he was not the fox itself as Mizuki was implying, but was the one who kept the village safe from the beast's wrath."

Kakashi took the information in stride, "Would it be possible to let him know that I am aware of his burden so that I may help him problems that he faces when it comes to either dealing with its chakra or the people who wrongfully believe that he is the fox?"

The Hokage gaze cast downward "Yes I believe that would be for the best. That damned law wasn't supposed to have him shunned. He was supposed to be viewed as a hero, not a pariah."

Kakashi felt bad for the man. He could see the weight of all the failures he had made in his long time in office, and saw how much the weight was affecting him, but after a second the Hokage was able to recompose himself and not a single trace of that feeling could be seen in his posture or his eyes.

"What about his parents Hokage-sama? Now that he knows of the Kyuubi I'm sure he could handle the information."

The Hokage's face took on a serious but pained expression, "I don't think that he's ready yet Kakashi. He's so young and craves attention so much that he takes bad attention like its praise. If he said something about it, even to just one person, even to one bully who called him a useless orphan whose parents didn't care about him enough to keep him, it would be around the entire village within the day and to Iwa within the week. I know that he's smarter than he seems but he's rash."

Kakashi thought about what Naruto portrayed whenever he knew he was being watched, and from that view the Hokage seemed right, but in those moments where Naruto thought nobody was watching he was an entirely different kid. He was calm and world-weary. The light in his eyes dimmed and the weight that his childhood heaped on him was plainly visible, but he shouldered it. He was a strong young man that was ready for just about anything that came at him. He trained every day, he took the snide comments from the villagers in stride, and Kakashi honestly didn't know how he did it.

Kakashi's childhood was no breeze either and he had shared much of the hate that was now focused on Naruto at one point in his life, but Kakashi honestly didn't know how he himself had made it through. In those days it seemed like it would never get better, but he kept training and eventually it did get better. But there was no true turning point for him. It seemed like one day he woke up and things were better. He was better able to handle his losses and his shortcomings. He hoped that would come soon for Naruto, sooner than it had come for himself.

"I disagree Hokage-sama, I honestly think you're underestimating Naruto, but I will leave it to your judgment for now. I do, however, recommend you at least tell him by the time he achieves the chunin rank." Kakashi said honestly. If there was one thing he appreciated most about Sarutobi it was that he listened to his subordinates and took their word to heart.

The Hokage nodded while adding more tobacco to his pipe. "That was my original plan. If anything by that point he should be able to defend himself against most of the threats that come his way thanks to his father's name. However that is enough about Naruto for now, your final student is a girl by the name of Sakura Haruno. Her mother is sadly a part of the civilian council due to owning nearly all of the civilian clothing stores in the village." Sarutobi sighed heavily before continuing, "Sakura does extremely well on written exams and chakra control exercises, but has shortcomings in physical exercises. So overall she is fairly normal for a kunochi in training who has achieved a top spot in her class."

Kakashi glanced at the folder that the Hokage handed him finding nothing of real interest as he glanced through it. That was perfectly fine with him. Having two extremely gifted students who both had at least minor personality issues made his job difficult enough thank you very much.

"So what, may I ask, is the purpose of the home visits, in my case at least? Only one of my students even has parents." Kakashi asked.

"I'll admit it is less imperative in your case, and will require a bit more guesswork, but it is still important none the less. Take your apartment for example, how much information would someone be able to gather on you just by looking around for an hour or so?" The Hokage smiled as he asked.

Kakashi thought about the question. His apartment was large for one man, showing that he was in no way aching for money. His kitchen was well stocked, but most food items were canned or stuffed into the freezer so he wouldn't have to worry about food going bad while he was on a mission. It would be easy to tell that he wasn't often home. His many filled bookshelves with well read books showed that he spent a lot of time reading. His apartment was also highly impersonal, which showed he didn't have much of a social life.

Kakashi sweat dropped heavily, ' _Well no wonder no one likes being in my apartment other than myself, it looks like where an emotionless tool would live.'_

Kakashi sighed heavily, "They would learn a bit too much if they took the time to look around."

The Hokage laughed heavily, knowing exactly what Kakashi's apartment looked like. "Indeed. So would you like to go now or did you have other plans?"

 **Sasu: so what do y'all think? I really like how it turned out, and I hope y'all did too. So the thing that I'm struggling with now is whether to have Sasuke still living in the Uchiha compound or to have him living in an apartment nearby. Leave a review and let me know what you think! Thank you so much for reading, please drop a review and favorite!**


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